Coming soon! Follow buses &amp; trains live

To make public transport more attractive, a new system is planned in the next few years, allowing users to receive live information on the arrival and departure times of public transport.

14.03.2012

In order to make public transport more attractive, a new system is planned to be installed in the next few years, allowing users to receive live information on the arrival and departure times of buses, trains and eventually the tram.

In the autumn, a new operations control system was installed in Luxembourg City, allowing the users of public transport to see when the next bus will arrive. Additionally, a screen inside buses show the passengers the name of the next stop.

A similar system is now planned for the rest of the country. Transport minister Claude Wiseler revealed first details on Monday. “This system will not be an extension of the existing E-Go-sytem”, he explained to Wort.lu. However, the next generation of the E-Go-system as well as the existing arrival and departure panels in the city will be integrated into this new system.

The system will cover buses, trains and the tram. Each means of transport will have a GPS, which will help staff to track them at every moment. It will then be easier to coordinate the different buses and trains: if it becomes clear that a bus is delayed, a connecting bus could be asked to wait for the passengers. Thus, the transport system would become more efficient for the user. Minister Wiseler also thinks that buses and trains from the border region should be included into this system.

The information will also be available online and on smartphones. At the moment, clients can consult the timetables on the website of the “Mobilitéitszentral”, but in the future, they will also be able to receive live updates for example on which bus will arrive at which stop, if buses are cancelled or if trains are delayed.

This new system will roughly cost 20 million euros and should be introduced in different steps. The first should be available in 2012, and the whole system is predicted to fully functional by 2018.